Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-01-08
STONE MEETING-llOUSES.
rHk AsOsEsr srkUorUREs OvkK IN
yBk UUMBEhLAsD VALLKY.
An Interesting ssetch os Them Their Appear
aucs when IN Use by tho Pioneers Of Tha,
section aud the Improvements Made
since The Homo ot tho writer
IN.
nv ruor wa. NJ. Nnvrs, u. d, ~. D.

| tury most of these venerable, old stone build
ipgs were allowed to be left standing In tbei
original simplicity without having had any
modern innovations made upon them; a
which time, Also, one Of them, under its pecu
liar circumstances, distinct from all the rest
was silently waiting its already pronounced
and soon 10 be accomplished doom. Aftel
this, however, these sacred houses remaining
all save one, were subjected 10 continual alter
stions aud amendments, seriously affecting
aud at last utterly subverting and changing
their wboie Internal arrangements and exter
nal aspects Those tall, upright pews, kindly
supporters of tho reverent worshippers stand
ing erect in tliem during the time OF prayer,
| on which Ia rest their arms, were now sup
| planted by those Of n costlier sort, Of choicer,
| polished wood, with lower backs aud fronts,
for the better accommodation Of such n pre-
ferred, while engaged in prayer, to remain
seated In thor pews, leaning their heads for
| ward, and resting them devoutIy ON the
| subordiuatcd submits of those; and for those
grand old pnlpits, round and narrow, ,fastene cd
and confirmed high up against the wall, have
| long since been substituted by others OF far
| wider dimensions, open all around, and placed
| 80 low ~ Ia have their exposed broad bases
| brought down To be completely on level
| with the tops of tho pews, and the preacher =
| desk 10 be u little elevated above the heads Of
| tho people The durable old walls, To he sure
| sustaining these ediices like the worshppeIs
| themselves in their orthodoxy, are still re-
| manning firm and sieadfast, but so entirely
renovated, femodeied and oyerwrought have
these structures nall save one-utterly
unteCogniL.bte The windows In all OF them,
| save OF one, have been narrowed aud elong-
| atsd, set with immense panes OF glass tall
and broad, some OF them richly stained and
embellishsd, With names inserted, the presen-
tations uI devoted relatives and friends, TO
serve rs lasting and beautiful memorials OF
the excellent and worth and pie,y of some
lamented or perhaps still surviving person
ages OF the congregation From the main
entrances Of some of these houses have yesti-
bules of stone been extended outward, and In
the walls OF others have wide recessss been
made for tho proper accommodation o. the
organs lattetly introduced or for the pulpits
set back, and large apartments have been
suPeradded to many Tor the purpose of hold
ing In their rooms lectures, Sabbath schools,
and prayerneetings.
To the main edihce OF that one OF two stories
In Carlisle, besides its Wholesale Internal
renovation, several times repeated, has been
supersdded n large apartment OF hewn stone
oi the same height, ,surmounted on the western
side by lofty tower suitable 20 the whole
structure; and that once venerable, consecfa ated
old meeting house oi blue limestone, SO long
revered, which tops the hill, overlooking, on
the northern side the town of Newville, and,
on the southern side, the gently allowing Green
Spring, from which 1t takes its name, with
the graveyard between, has lsterly been
utterly disguised, and robbed OF its antiquity
by having cast over 1t new coating or dis
cOloration of universal white, extended also
over the large apartment of brick OF later con-
stfuCtton annexed to II, for having held In 1t
sabbath schools, prsyermeetings and other
religious assemblies; whereby, to he sure,
these two buildings OF different age, but now
OF the same color, have thus been made out
wardly to correspond and assume the appear
ance OF one completely consolidated and estab-
lished whole.
Indeed, so wholly transformed have these
old meetings houses been in the course of
years, that they are no longer known ss such,
al
churches, and all that is wanting in the way
OF fully undertaking them Is TO have them
topped out with lofty steeples, containing
bolls, to the attainment OF which some of them
indeed seem already to be aspiring, thus to
make them stand on par, in outward show
anu Importance, with any OF the proudest
churches OF other denominations, or even OF
a few, Of later date, OF their own, TO he seen
towering alOit in au of the eghbOring towns
or villages.
The only remaining meeting house that is
left without having any modern innovations
made upon 1t down to the present time, is
that ot Rocky Spring. 1t is located some four
or five miles northeasterly from Chambers.
burg on An isolated limestone ridge cropping
out from stretch OF slate land, extending all
around IL, Tar and wide, at whose base, at the
extromyst northern end, is gushing forth
from It's rocky source an exuberant font from
which this meeting house derives its name
Strange enough, as II may seem, however,
this alone of all tho meeting houses of the
SpllNSs ~ lut only one not tOustfuCttu tI
stone; for when the time had come for the
building OF such, generally to supeTsede
those OF wood, a. there was no supply of this
solid material to be met with in the whole
slate land country around, and as to take 1t
from ths sacred hill in which we're deposited
the revered remains Of their ioreiathers who
had held 1t Tor their place OF worship during
the whole colonial times, would have been
deemed 10y their pious descendants, besides
destroying the symmetry of the hill ITSELF
barbarous aud sacrlegious act, II was resol we'd
10y them to have their building constructed
saving stone foundation, wholly OF brick,
more easily to be conveyed from abroad, or
perhaps furnished them ready at hand from
some kiln erected and burnt in their imme-
date neighDOrhOOd.
This meeting house. though only OF one
story and without gallery, WAS very ample
and cOmmodi0us being capable of having
seated within its long aud high-backed pews
great many people, gathered from wide
extent OF territory. Having been built, too
soon after the Revolution, these people were
still somewhat affected by the modes and
fashions of its warlike times; not so much
those OF them arriving from the country, who
were still remaining plain enough in their
dress aud unassuming in their manners, AS /
we're more especially those OF them coming
out from the town, many of whom had been
officers III the army, still wearing their regi-
mentals III part, ana retaining stately, mar
tlai sort ot bearing, which some OF them were
nothing 10th to showing of To advantage be-
stance, we are told, a certain colonel, on
arriving on the grounds urging his mettled
sieeds, would sometimes be pleased to De
borne in his handsome vehicle, open on all
sides, some two or three times around tho
meeting house, perhaps still that wood, to be
seen OF all in his hali-nilitary costume, before
handing over the feins to his attendant; and
alighting from II, reyerenuy removing from
his powdered head with its long plated cue
or shorter pigtail behind, his three. cornered
or lofty cooked hat, he proceeded thence
with this IN hand, in a suitable solemn, and
dlgnihed manner To enter the sanctuary.
when, however, at tho beginning OF the
present century, amid the romantic clump of
cedsrs, within the immediate vicinity OF
thambersburg, on the Falling Spring, In
place OF Its preceding structure of wood, had
been erected a more commodious meeting
house OF stone, many OF the gentlefolks of the
town, more aristocratical in manners and
stylish in costume, and more .nduigent to
their own ease and comfort, preferred to take
their pews and assume their regular sittings
on the sabbath IN this more convenient and
suitable house of worship. Owing to which,
aud To the continual emigration, out of the
Valley to the tar West, OF many OF the Scotch.
Irish, succeeded by the coming in of many
German settlers, mostly Lutheran or Re-
formed, and to the erection besides OF other
houses OF worship In the noighboriug towns
and villages, there was a gradual falling oil
IN attendance from that venerable, rural, old
meeting house OF Rocky Spring which de-
crease has continued ever since, even down
t. the present time, 80 that now 1t is having